‘Subsidy on books to promote reading habit’

LAHORE
Punjab University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran urged the national leadership to provide subsidy on books to promote reading habit in the society.
He was addressing a seminar organised by PU Department of Information Management in collaboration with PU Library, Alumni Association and National Book Foundation on Wednesday.
Dr Mujahid said the world was a battlefield and the great nations were under the control of world’s financial elite which wanted to establish a single world government, enslaving mankind while around 1.5 billion Muslims of the world had almost no share in creation of new knowledge. These were the two biggest problems the world was facing, he added. He advised the students to adopt reading habits and read books on different topics.
Addressing the ceremony, Dr Kanwal Amin said there was a need to do research that why reading habits were not being developed in young generation. She said that book reading culture reflected the attitude of a nation.
Senior journalist Wasif Nagi said Internet and mobile phone had created distance between the people and the books. He said that ‘reading widened our vision and changed our minds.’ He said that good libraries must be set up at school level and events like Punjab University book fair must be organised to promote reading culture.
Director PILAC Dr Sughra Sadaf said parents must develop reading habits among their children.
Earlier, an oath was taken from all the participants that they would read books and promote book culture by purchasing, protecting and gifting books. Later, PU VC Dr Mujahid Kamran distributed Book Lover Award among top ten PU Library users - Zeeshan Ashraf, Islam Tayyab, Sunbal Manzoor, Javeria Shahid, Muhammad Waqas Tahir, Muhammad Irtaza, Saeedullah, Maria Nawaz, Waqar Ali and Aftab Ahmad.
Earlier, Dr Kanwal Amin led a walk in connection with World Book and Copyright Day from the department to IER to Al Raazi Hall.
‘Sufi poets: Punjab University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran on Wednesday said Allah Almighty had blessed Sufi poets whose teachings affected hearts and minds of the people. He was addressing the inaugural session of Baba Farid International Punjabi Conference organised by Punjab University Oriental College. Dr Mujahid said youngsters must enlighten their hearts with the teachings and ideas of Sufi poets. He congratulated Prof Dr Ismatullah Zahid and organisers for a successful event.